Plasencia Alma del Cielo Staff Review
I’m smoking Alma del Cielo, the newest cigar from Plasencia, and I’m lighting up a Boreal, a chunky Toro that’s just past 6 inches long with a ring gauge of 54. Alma del Cielo joins a popular portfolio that includes 1865 Alma Fuerte, Alma Fuerte Natural, Alma del Campo, and Alma del Fuego.
The Plasencia family has been growing tobacco throughout Latin America since 1865, when Don Eduardo Plasencia departed the Canary Islands for Cuba and planted his first crops in the famed Vuelta Abajo region. Today, the Plasencia family is among the largest growers of premium tobacco in Nicaragua and Honduras, where they operate multiple farms and factories, producing cigars for several recognizable brands, including Rocky Patel, Alec Bradley, and Romeo y Julieta. The Plasencias reserve their rarest and oldest tobacco for their eponymous brand.
Alma del Cielo is Spanish for “soul of the sky.” Nestor Plasencia Jr. named the blend in honor of the family’s San Julián farm, located 3500 feet above sea level in Nicaragua. The region’s cool nighttime climate, lack of shade, and fresh mountain springs all contribute to the unique taste of the high-elevation tobacco crops. Nestor Jr. blended Alma del Cielo with select long-fillers harvested on the San Julián farm, in addition to a wrapper from Jalapa and long-fillers from other Plasencia estates in Nicaragua.
Alma del Cielo cigars are handcrafted in three sizes, including the Boreal I’m smoking now. The blend is also available in an Amanecer, a six-sided pressed cigar the Plasencias call a Hexagono. Alma del Cielo comes in a navy blue 10-count box, and each cigar is dressed in a pair of matching bands. The Plasencias’ Alma series cigars aren’t cheap. They hover around $20 and up per cigar. Despite the steep prices, the family has steadily grown its fan base by making cigars of exceptional consistency and quality with distinctive taste. It’s clear Alma del Cielo fits this trend when I extract a Boreal from a fresh box.
The cigar’s medium-brown wrapper glistens with a touch of oil, and its delicate vein structure forms a subtle network over the cigar’s surface from head to foot. I can tell it’s been rolled to perfection when I perform a brief pinch test. The Boreal exhibits a welcoming aroma of leather, cinnamon, and spice before it’s lit. After clipping the cap, tasting notes of fresh tobacco and pepper reveal complex hints of dark fruit and plum in the cold draw. The airflow is ideal as the Boreal awakens with dense clouds of creamy smoke.
Notes of nuts, wheat, and honey emerge in the first few minutes, but the profile momentarily turns bitter. A dry, astringent profile of cardboard and char overwhelms the cigar in the first quarter. Luckily, the effect subsides after ten minutes with velvety notes of oak, white pepper, and fresh bread. The Boreal burns with impressive precision, leaving a solid white ash in two-inch increments at the foot.
As Alma del Cielo progresses, the flavor becomes noticeably creamier and more balanced throughout the final third. The blend remains spicy in the nose, but its luscious foundation of leather and oak introduces hints of cake batter and cocoa at the end. I wish the cigar had developed with its creamy intonations earlier, but its finish and overall smoothness are worthy of 91 points, nonetheless.
I don’t know if the high-elevation tobaccos affect the tasting notes, in particular. But Alma del Cielo cigars offer a cohesive experience. Order a few singles and sample Alma del Cielo to see if this unique blend resonates with your palate. It’s too expensive to invest in a whole box without enjoying one or two cigars first.
